1. Field of of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for stacking sliced products from a slicing machine, and more particularly to an apparatus which receives accurately slices of ham, bacon and so on from a slicing machine, stacks a predetermined number of slices and transfers them to conveyor means of a packaging device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the manufacture of sliced ham and the like it is well known in the art to feed a loaf of material about 1 to 2 meters long into a rotary cutting blade which forms slices of a predetermined thickness cyclically from the end of the loaf. In order to package a stack of several slices, it is necessary that an apparatus for stacking the slices be provided before the conveyor. One example of such apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 57-8098. This apparatus comprises a pair of gourd-shaped receiving plates which are rotatable and movable in a vertical direction such that each of the plates rotate 180 degrees about the center thereof when it reaches the lower position. The slices cut by the blade are succesively collected across the paired receiving plates, and the receiving plates are gradually lowered as the slices are stacked. After a predetermined number of the slices are stacked, the paired receiving plates are rotated such that the slices stacked thereon are released to be dropped onto the conveyor, the slices being conveyed in the stacked condition to a packaging machine. The receiving plates, after releasing the stack onto the conveyor, move up to the initial position at high speed to accumulate a next stack.
Since, however, the slicing machine continues slicing the loaf while the receiving plates rotate to drop the stack and move up, the plates must be elevated to the initial position immediately with very high speed in order to receive the slices without fail and in order to prevent the slices from free falling a long distance for the purpose of aligning the stack. Such a high speed movement of the receiving plates is not advantageous because it entails excessive load on the mechanism and tends to cause vibrations with reducing a lifetime of the machine. In addition, the vertical movements of the receiving plates are effected by a system incorporating two pneumatic cylinders, resulting in a complicated structure of the machine and a troublesome work for accurately controlling the movements. Furthermore, the rotational movements of the receiving plates for releasing the stack tend to displace the slices due to centrifugal force so that the stack dropped on the conveyor is misaligned or misplaced.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for stacking slices from a slicing machine in which a stack receiver may be elevated to a receiving position at moderate speed for eliminating vibration.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for stacking sliced products from a slicing machine which can transfer a stack on a receiver to a conveyor of a subsequent device accurately and without causing substantial misalignment.
A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the kind set forth above which is relatively simple in structure and reliable in operation.